Lightning Strikes Twice
by AllBlueChaser
Summary: It's about a ring. No. It's more about a love realized and cut short and miraculously finding it again. A Dick Grayson/Wally West pre-slash reincarnation fic.


Kurt let the ring roll carefully in his palm. The weight fascinated him, and he couldn't bring himself to tuck his custom piece back in its velvet lined box just yet. Not only was it heavier than such a tiny little band of metal should be, but he felt the weight of the promise it represented. He didn't want it to leave his hand until it was on her finger.

Today was the day! He'd give it to her and make her realize that with one little word, the happiness they shared could be forever. He'd make sure of it.

He must have had a dumb look on his face, because suddenly the whole firehouse was laughing at him, and the chief himself was clapping a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"I hear you're going to ask her - that girl you saved a year or two ago? Lightning girl? You sure?"

The young man laughed lightly and displayed the ring between his long fingers.

"Yes, sir! I would've asked earlier even, but first I needed the perfect ring, and then I couldn't think of any romantic way to propose, but I'm tired of waiting."

"You have some stones, Flanton, if you seriously expect her big daddy to approve. She's got to be worth millions, and that's just her own tech company. When you add in her daddy's bank roll, you might as well be dating royalty."

Kurt chuckled to himself before giving the chief a sly smile.

"She's worth more than a million. She's priceless! And I'm not talking about money. She's incredible, smart, graceful - she was a dancer for a while, did you know that? She's honest, brilliant, noble, kind, funny, and…." Kurt gushed, picking up speed .

"Whoa, slow down, kid! We believe you," his bud Peter interjected as a few of his other friends laughed. A few pretended to gag, and he flipped them the bird without slowing down one iota of a second. He couldn't help it, talking about her ignited something, sped up his heart, and it was all his mouth could do to keep up.

"I mean, there's so much about her! You mentioned royalty, but she's more beautiful than any princess or queen that I'd ever seen."

"Okay, we get it man, you're a young fool in love," the chief chortled as he mussed the young firefighter's hair.

"Hey, cut it out! I was just telling you what I told her father."

The silence was suddenly deafening as his fellow firefighters stopped and stared at him, thinking that perhaps they had misheard that.

They knew the kid was stupidly brave and confident, but that was going even beyond their expectations. John, who had one leg up into a fire truck, hopped back down and made his way over.

"No…you didn't? You're telling us you walked your working class ass uptown and just waltzed into his office? " Disbelief was evident on pretty much all of the guys' faces. Kurt knew in their heads they were calling him an idiot.

"Yup. Technically, I took a cab on my lunch break, but you got the gist. He told me I was a damn fool, and that if his precious Bertie hadn't come to him and threatened to never speak to him again if I asked him this question and he stood in our way, he would have had me cut up into pieces and thrown into the sewer long ago. He said the fact I had saved her back then was what cinched it, but I better not mess it up." He grinned at the memory.

"Even in her father's intimidating office, all alone, under the most scathing and hostile glare I'd ever seen, I was okay because she had seen four steps ahead." The toothy smile was too blinding, too sappy, so one of the guys flipped a truck siren, startling the group and causing Kurt to jump and nearly lose the ring before catching it with a relieved sigh. The guys laughed at the kid again.

"Now if we're done flapping our gums, I believe we have a special delivery to make. And we better hurry before butterfingers here loses the ring!"

"Chief?" Kurt turned to the man in confusion.

"You, lover-boy! Come on, kid - she works in that big skyscraper on 21st right? We'll go in - lights and sirens - and lift you up to her window with the crane. Hell! We'll let the city bask in your sugary sweet romance as you pop the question."

Kurt stared open-mouthed for a minute. She would never expect that. She, who always knows everything, would never see this coming. It was so impulsive, and that was SO him.

"Yeah, let's do it! Thanks, guys."

One of the boys started shoving him toward the truck. "Well, you never thought of a plan, right? We'll back you up - rookie!"

The Chief himself pulled him up into the truck amongst his friends' wolf-whistles, cat-calls, and congratulations.

As he sped through town, the sirens got him the right of way - he was a flash of red blur streaking toward her. Nothing felt more right.

Almost a year ago, Kurt had just been putting out a simple house fire on a rainy September afternoon when she appeared out of nowhere to help get the kids out of the house. When he spotted her, they locked eyes and started to grin. She was really the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, and he was probably about to stupidly voice that thought out loud when the lightning hit her.

Next thing he knew, he was beside her, giving her mouth to mouth. When she woke up and looked at him with those piercing blue eyes, telling him he was an idiot for abandoning the fire (even if his coworkers were still at it), he knew she had somehow saved him and not the other way around.

About halfway to 21st, traffic forced even the firetruck to stop. The ring itself seemed to hum with the frustration that Kurt felt.

"Come ON! What's going on!?" Kurt flicked the siren on and off, but cars clogged the street sidewalk to sidewalk. The best the ones in front of them could do was shrug apologetically.

The Chief unclipped the radio and called city dispatch for answers as Kurt took to swearing at the idiots that blocked him from his epic proposal. He felt the gaze of the Chief on him and turned his head.

"What?"

"They got a male jumper at your girl's building. Someone's trying to talk them down off the ledge. That description fits her…" A nod toward the ring.

Kurt darted from the now stopped fire truck. He could run there faster if he took the back streets.

Roberta pushed down another long, whipping lock of raven hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. She promised herself when she got out of this she would finally see about getting a hair cut.

Her father had always taught her that to gain people's notice you have to put on a bit of a show. When she was a younger and had a short career in a dance company, she loved how her long hair had flown like a cape behind her, demanding attention and cutting a beautiful silhouette. When she entered the business world, she liked how versatile it was, and how she could style it for the perfect effect, cute and feminine or powerful and severe, depending on what was needed.

She was pretty sure Kurt wouldn't mind it short, though, and times like now, standing precariously on the window ledge of her main office as the wind whipped it around, making it obscure her vision and go into her mouth, she had to say it was a pain.

Still, she had to address the matter at hand before she could properly consider the haircut idea.

"RAY! You know you don't want to do this! You're not thinking clearly! You're off your medication, aren't you? You're going to break Bebe's heart! You promised...and weren't you taking her out to the new vegetarian place this weekend?"

The intern looked perfectly sane and down right remorseful as he turned back to his employer, his friend.

"You can't save me, Rob; I'm saving you. I'm saving everyone - the evil inside me - I'm the key to

hell on earth. This is the only way!"

"Bullshit it is! Come on in, and we'll find another way! We'll get you help... "

"Tell her I'm sorry. She deserved better-"

"RAY, NO!" Roberta stretched out fast and snatched the back of Ray's dark pants as he began to step off the ledge. "I'm not letting you quit that easily!" She screamed into the wind as the momentum pulled her upper body up and nearly over as she planted the heel of her 'date night' pumps on either side the sill as an anchor.

The twosome shared a look with a breath of relief. Yes, Ray wanted to end his threat upon the world but bringing one of his best friends and employer with him certainly hadn't been in the plan.

Roberta took a breath and heaved as she pulled one of her favorite employees by the belt loops back toward safety. Ray had just got a steadying hand inside when suddenly the right heel of her ridiculously expensive shoe suddenly snapped and the shift of her center of gravity had her tumbling over the edge too fast for the woman to scream.

Kurt came out of the short cut in a dead run. He looked up at the sharp angle toward her office. His mouth dropped open as he saw Rob start to fall head first, black hair flying behind her like a velvet ribbon against the glass backdrop of the skyscraper.

"NO!" He ran. He wasn't too far away. There was a chance he could catch her! If he was fast enough, he could save her! So he ran faster. He had too.

Roberta closed her eyes and tried to make peace with what was going to happen in a matter of seconds. The wind and currents beneath her felt kinda nice. She wished she could fly. It'd be fun and quite useful, to say the least. A silly thought, but she was positive she and Kurt had something too good to waste. It wasn't enough time at all. It wasn't fair to leave him like this either, damn it!

He'd have to forgive her. She only hoped he could be happy.

As for her, maybe in her next life she could be a bird that watches over him.

Kurt zoned in to where she would fall and pushed his body so hard, he felt like it could break. She was falling so fast! He needed to be faster! FASTER! He needed to save her!

He didn't see the motorcyclist, frustrated from the traffic jam, rev his engine and illegally jet between the cars and the sidewalk back toward the west side. The driver didn't have a chance to react as Kurt appeared in front of him. The collision sent the firefighter into the air.

He watched in slow motion horror as he fell out of the line of sight of his lover's decent. He felt stuck in midair even as he slammed into the side of a cement truck and into a small construction project. A long piece of rebar was sticking from his chest, and he felt woozy and not in nearly enough pain.

He cried out in anguish as he felt the engagement ring in his hand slip out and roll across the pavement to slink between the grates of a storm drain.

No. If only he could have been a little faster! He'd been so close. Only a little faster.

"DAMN IT! Slow down!"

"Seriously Robs, you want to hang out in this sewer longer than we absolutely have to?"

"No dude, there are tons of tunnels down here. Getting lost would be a breeze, and we'd be here even longer. Just give me a minute to track Killer Crock's last location, and I might get us a short cut." Robin pulled up his wrist computer once it became evident the speedster had decided to slow to a stop.

Wally looked at Robin's face in the blue glow of his tech and smiled to himself. He couldn't help but enjoy these mini-missions where he could spend more time with Rob, even if it was in a gross sewer. Just hanging out not on missions was cool, too, but lately he was thinking maybe he wanted to do more with his best friend than hang out. That was risky, though: potentially lose the friendship, have to face the big bad bat - so many problems.

A reflective glint caught his eye as Robin turned slightly to take off in the new, shorter direction. Curiosity got the better of Wally, and he pulled an old ring out from the crack in the wall. He rubbed it against his uniform to shine it up a bit after it's years of waiting. His breath caught and he hurried after Robin.

It was perfect, almost out of a dream - a platinum band with a gold engraved lightning bolt outlined in tiny diamonds. On the inside of the band it was signed:

Rob, they say lightning doesn't strike twice. With you it does. My Love and For Always, KF.

"What are you looking at?" The boy wonder was suddenly there in front of him and looking into his hands. Kid Flash quickly swept the ring into his uniform's snack cupboard for safe keeping and grinned.

"Souvenir."

"If it's a souvenir, let me see it!"

"It's yours, actually. I'm just going to take care of it until the right time."

"Yeah, right. You found something for me in a sewer." Robin rolled his eyes at him, but KF just shrugged his shoulders.

"Want to do something after this? I'm starving."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Robin turned a beautiful smile his direction, and Wally returned it.

Kid Flash didn't believe in magic, but he didn't ignore perfectly carved tokens of love either.


End file.
